


Together Protected

by dutifulriley



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Body Exploration, F/F, Masturbation, Trauma Recovery, but it's not gone into in detail, fusion masturbation, it's just kind of there, okay I said no archive warnings but be aware there IS rape in a character's BACKSTORY, rhodonite backstory, the general horror of being a Pearl, there's some stuff about healing from it but there's no depiction of the violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:55:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25553932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dutifulriley/pseuds/dutifulriley
Summary: Rhodonite, afraid their little band will be found, hides in a hole to reminisce and rediscover herself.Alternately, 2/3 gratuitous Rhodonite backstory and 1/3 gratuitous Rhodonite smut.
Relationships: Rhodonite's Component Pearl/Rhodonite's Component Ruby (Steven Universe)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	Together Protected

Fluorite had gone into torpor again. Periodically, she would just curl up around herself and go quiet, all her eyes closed with a beatific smile, focusing on the conversation inside her head. It played hell with Rhodonite’s nerves, even though the one time the Twins had heard a drone while she was in lost inside herself, all it took was a squeeze of her giant hand to wake her. Still, what if it happened again and they couldn’t get out in time? What if something found them and they were so busy waking Fluorite that they all got broken?

  
For the time being, though, there was nothing to do but wait it out. The twins were playing cards, Padparadscha was leaning back against Fluorite’s thorax and staring contemplatively into the recent past. Rhodonite, for her part, was pacing back and forth, chewing her nails and trying not to imagine being brutally separated and shattered. 

  
“Rhodonite, quit it,” one of the twins said, “Sit down or something.”

  
“We can’t concentrate,” said her sister, “With you darting around in our peripherals.”

  
“Well, what do you expect me to do?” Rhodonite asked.

  
“Sit down. Play cards with us. Do something.”

  
“Well I can’t just _stop_ , we could all _die_! I’ll just go worry somewhere else!” Rhodonite exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. Her voice had gotten almost shrill, and the twins’ apologies from behind her only made her all the more embarrassed as she pattered away, around a turn in the cavern, and into someone’s long-abandoned hole. Close enough by that if a wandering robonoid or a Topaz on a punishment detail approached, she’d still be able to hear the twins’ warning whistle, but far enough she wouldn’t get in anyone’s way or let her anxiety bleed over into their inexplicable peace. She sat heavily against the wall, letting out an exhausted breath.

  
Rhodonite wondered vaguely whose hole this had been. Quartz, probably, by the shape of it; or maybe Agate or even a Garnet of some type, since it was big enough she could almost stretch her legs across it. Whoever had emerged here was long gone; maybe even shattered. Some Gems were sentimental enough to go back and visit their holes, but everyone old enough to have been created this deep in the bowels of Homeworld was too dignified for that kind of thing. No one came down here but the aforementioned Topazes who had pissed someone off enough to get a deadly boring assignment, and off-colours like her. 

  
Ruby hadn’t been made on Homeworld, but on the aluminium-oxide-rich core of a gas giant, one of Yellow’s conquests. When she’d emerged, it had been so soon after the Ruby below her that she fell directly on top of her; she’d squeaked like a gas cushion in a processing plant and the two of them had fallen over themselves giggling. The full crop of Rubies had taken three rotations to emerge, so there was a little blissful time of wrestling and singing and talking before their manager had come to collect them. 

  
That Ruby she’d fallen on, she heard, had been broken on her first assignment and nobody had so much as picked up the pieces. 

  
Pearl hadn’t known any other Pearls. Rubies got to have squads, but Pearls’ attention was expected to be exclusively reserved for their mistresses, and they rarely saw other Pearls unless it was requested. When their affair had begun, whispering to each other outside the closed doors where Morganite entertained other perfectly-cut Beryls, those squad stories had been Pearl’s favourites to hear. Camaraderie was something she hadn’t known, and Ruby had made it her mission to show her. 

  
The first time they’d spoken, it was after Morganite caught Pearl not smiling. She’d grabbed her nose in her tiny fist and twisted it hard; Ruby had cringed at Pearl’s piteous cry. Ruby knew she couldn’t protect Pearl from Morganite, couldn’t really save her, so she decided she was going to give Pearl real reasons to smile, so she wouldn’t have to always be faking it, to spare her some of Morganite’s wrath. She’d immediately started singing, when Morganite left, and her voice was airy and weak but she sang anyway, one of the songs she’d learnt on assignment, about all the old soldiers lost and found. 

  
Pearl had been more baffled than comforted, at first, but Ruby had just kept going, telling her every bad joke she could think of that wasn’t rude until Pearl giggled. It had taken three days, but eventually Ruby stumbled over a punchline and Pearl just couldn’t help herself, clapping her hands over her mouth to stifle the sound as she shook with laughter. 

  
Ruby, eyes wide, had lit the carpet on fire under her feet, but luckily, Rubies were ride-or-die, so none of them would admit which had done it. 

  
They’d started talking more often, after that. Pearl, who listened silently those first three days, piped up more, and once when Morganite was busy with a Trapiche Emerald, they snuck out to the big bay window and watched the swirling of the galaxy together. Pearl had sat on the floor, cross-legged and smiling, and she’d put a hand over Ruby’s. Ruby turned hers over to twine their fingers, and they had been blissfully alone. 

  
Ruby had wanted to do it again as soon as possible. So had Pearl, deep down, but she had been more cautious, not only of the possibility of discovery, but of what Ruby might want, and of what she couldn’t do. Ruby, after all, had avoided her ruder jokes out of a feeling that Pearl was above that sort of thing. Pearl felt herself to be beneath that sort of thing, in fact; crushed by it. 

  
A few cycles into their affair, though, they had tried. A little time alone in a closet, Ruby scooped up in Pearl’s arms, and Pearl had actually liked the warm press of lips, the trembling heat, Ruby’s hands on her cheeks. To hold this precious little gem close to her, to imagine for a moment they’d never be parted— before either of them had ever thought of fusing! Ruby’s hips started to twitch, though, against Pearl’s waist, and she’d frozen up completely. She collapsed, her knees going weak, and the two of them crashed to the ground, hot tears coming to Pearl’s eyes. 

  
Ruby had apologized profusely, thumbing the tears from her eyes, but she hadn’t really understood— wouldn’t understand, not until much later when their minds were one. Pearl wanted to want her, wanted to be with her without fear, but her memory was so full of the hurt she’d suffered that there was no space for joy. Even when they just held each other, if Ruby’s precious hands came too close to her hips, or her thighs, she would collapse, and so Ruby learnt quickly not to do it. 

  
When they had fused, so much later, swaying slowly together under the moons of a small potential colony Morganite was meant to inspect, while she was away on a joyride, they’d fallen to their knees with Ruby’s sudden understanding and Pearl’s sudden peace. Being together was warm, and though they’d never been safe, it was safer than they’d ever even imagined feeling. Rhodonite had wound her hands into her own hair, caressed her plump cheeks, traced the edges of her gems, all of her new form so foreign and so familiar; she flexed her strong, chubby hands and felt a flare of warmth and love for how Pearl had always admired their softness; she stretched the other pair and adored their grace as Ruby always had. There had been nothing reflective there, the first time, so she didn’t know the contours of her face or the colours of her eyes yet, but she knew she never wanted to be parted. 

  
But, of course, she was parted before long. Morganite’s ship had appeared in the distance and she had tumbled apart, hands clasping for a fleeting moment before the two of them returned to their positions halfway across the makeshift base from each other. 

  
Every time she formed thereafter, she held on tighter, even when all she could do was lie quietly in a storage room, eyes closed, thinking about being herself. It wasn’t until she was discovered, cycles later on Homeworld, that she’d even dared to think of freedom. 

  
She’d run, because of course she had. They’d been torn apart, Ruby dissipated, her gem imprisoned to await the burr grinder, Pearl frog-marched onto the ship to be taken to the Reef for rejuvenation—

  
“And sale,” Morganite had been sure to tell her. “Someone else will buy you good as new, but I’ll never be able to wipe that disgusting sight from my eyes.” 

  
“You’ll never have what we had,” Pearl gasped out, her voice trembling, and when Morganite had slapped her across the face she knew she couldn’t let it be over with. 

  
So she’d run. Morganite was high-ranking, of course, but small, an Era Two aristocrat fluttering on wings more fashion than form, and Pearl was made of legs and terror. She’d run, wedging Ruby out of the crack she’d been trapped in to keep her from reforming, she’d clutched her to her breast, she’d taken a rolling tumble to avoid the club of a Topaz who Morganite must have called, she’d rolled a little more than she needed to, trying to think of it as dance. 

  
_I need you, Ruby_ , she’d thought, and she’d let herself go, pulled Ruby’s slumbering mind into her own. 

  
And she’d been Rhodonite, and she’d run. 

  
She hadn’t separated since. One of the other Rubies had opened a long-welded-shut trap door for her, and she’d descended into the basements of the spire, trying not to think about the conflicted look on the Ruby’s face. Saving her life for half of her’s sake, but still not approving. There was too much to fear, in the bowels of Homeworld, crawling down and down, and her only thought back then was to run so far she’d never be found. 

  
She had been found, but only by Fluorite, who had pressed two giant eyes against the mouth of the hole Rhodonite had been hiding in and gently asked her name. She’d been only four, then, already massive but with a more commonly shaped body, four legs and two arms, and she was a little defter, a little more outwardly focused. Her survival— in the caverns since Era One and still going strong— was Rhodonite’s first glimmer of hope, her first indication that running wasn’t just putting off inevitable destruction but a way of life. 

  
And it was a way of life for more than just them— before long they’d met Peridot, sweet and enthusiastic but brittle from the porous structure of the asteroid she was mined out of; she’d been slated for the grinder too. She’d become part of Fluorite not long after they met the Twins, running scared just like Rhodonite had. It was Peridot’s influence that made Fluorite more proactive, Rhodonite thought, and as terrible of an idea as she thought it was to expose themselves to more danger just because they’d caught a whisper of a transmission that suggested someone needed a rescue, she couldn’t deny Fluorite was happier now with that fire in her. It was also how they’d found Padparadscha, and the Zircon who had become Fluorite’s sixth, and she wouldn’t trade them for the world. 

  
But it did scare her. It terrified her, every time Fluorite went into torpor, or Padparadscha made a prediction a little too loud, or the Rutiles clambered up several levels to investigate a sound. She had herself, and she had Fluorite and Padparadscha and the Rutiles, and she was so lucky for that— she had love, and she had friends. It was already so much more than someone like her deserved. She had camaraderie, that camaraderie that Pearl had longed for, and yet she was always making a fool of herself by letting her fear boil over. 

  
She tried to calm down, like the Twins were always telling her to with varying degrees of patience. She closed her eyes, gazing into the faintly purple light making its way through her lids. It was dim, this deep underground, but there was enough filtered light and phosphorescence that in the hole she could just barely see herself with her eyes open, and with them closed there wasn’t much to distract her. 

  
She’d been sitting there for ten minutes or so when she realized one of her hands was resting calmly on her upper thigh. Her eyes snapped open. One of her thicker hands, on the side with no tights; deep pink skin on skin, comfortably warm. She wiggled her fingers a little, watching them dig into her soft flesh, and she was comfortable.  
This was a revelation. Her own hand, her own leg, alone and as safe as she ever was. She gently rubbed her skin, feeling it give, feeling the warmth flicker from her touch to her gems, and she watched herself not be afraid. 

  
This body was new, she supposed. She could still remember what Pearl had been through; it was indelibly a part of her, like Ruby’s folk songs and the desperation of escape, but somehow these hands on these hips didn’t pull those memories to the forefront like they had when they were separate beings. She didn’t feel the pained clench of fear and helplessness. Instead, she felt _happy_. 

  
Carefully, tentatively, she ran another hand up her side— a slender hand that by all rights should have overwhelmed her with the thought of what it had had to do. Her fingers did tremble, but it was excitement, not panic. Her belly was full and rounded; there was a slight dip at the front centre of her ribs. She cupped one heavy breast, lifting it, and dropped her head back against the stone wall. 

  
Soft. She was so soft, so warm and so giving. When she dug her fingers in, there was a sweet ache, and she bit her lip against some low sound. She slid back, no longer sitting up quite so straight, and closed her eyes, kneading slowly at her breasts, fascinated by the hard peaks that formed up under her touch. A brush against one and the feeling shot, electric, straight to her gem, and she nearly giggled to note that it was the one that had once been a Pearl that felt it the most— Ruby had touched herself plenty, and even fooled around with her squad, but Pearl had never felt this good, only done what she needed to and faked the rest. Pearl, who had wanted so dearly to have this joy, could have it now in her. 

  
Peeling down her top, Rhodonite found that her chiffon collar brushed against her swollen nipples, and as she opened her eyes again she saw that they were dark and broad. She almost wished for more light, enchanted suddenly by this body she had created. Too aware that she could need to reform her clothes immediately at the sound of an alarm whistle to complicate things with manual removal, Rhodonite let go of her garments and felt the cool, still air against her body. Clothes, projection though they were, served more than just aesthetics; they dulled the senses slightly, allowed skin to be brushed without it feeling too intimate. 

  
Without them, everything was heightened. Four hands weren’t enough; every inch of her skin was crying out to be touched. She squeezed her own waist with two, pulling at the extra skin at the top of her hips, watching her fingers sink into her softness. One of her other hands cupped her own jawline, while the last trailed down to stroke her thigh, right where she’d first rested it, the spot that had started this whole thing. 

  
Slowly, she sank her fingers into the nest of dark curls between her legs, biting back a giggle when she saw it was streaked with lilac like the rest of her hair. Her short, blunt nails scratched gently at her skin, and the feeling was prickly and intriguing. Her core throbbed, and she clenched it against nothing, loving how it built up, how much she wanted what she could give herself. 

  
She sat up a little, combing her soft fur aside to look at how she was put together— folds around an opening, the same arrangement both parts of her had had. The folds were thick like Ruby’s, but the glistening resonant node that crested them was heavily hooded like Pearl’s. She gently tugged the hood back with her fingers, watching how it made her node push up, the same rich pink with dark veins as her gems. Every part of her was wanting, but she couldn’t dare touch it just yet, so she let go and let the thick cradle of skin cover it up again. 

  
Two hands slid from her waist up to her breasts as she spread her lips carefully with her fingers, the wet sound startlingly loud in the silent cavern. Every little tug made her clench, her soft belly jiggling, the heat in her gems and her core flaring. Slowly, she rubbed herself up and down along her outer lips, not venturing in, not even touching her node; the fact she was able to do this, the fact that these hands could bring pleasure and this body could feel it, was glory enough. In that moment, she could hardly imagine going further than she was. 

  
She rolled her dark, swollen nipples, one hand sneaking around to grab at her own ass, tugging herself a little wider open. There was so much of her— rounder than Pearl, broader than Ruby, softer than either of them. Her knuckles pressed against the stone floor a little uncomfortably, but not enough for her to stop.

  
She squeezed her breasts up and together, nuzzling between them, almost laughing at how silly she must have looked but still loving the softness of her skin against her cheeks and against her gem, her own smell. It wasn’t just her skin— there was a damp, mineral smell in the air, one she’d almost forgotten in her decades underground, tickling high in her nose like a limestone cavern. She bit her lip against a moan, squeezing herself tighter, thrilled that she’d gotten so wet she could smell it. A pang went through her, starting deep in her core and rocketing up through her gems, and her satisfaction turned immediately to desire; suddenly, more than anything, she needed to touch inside. 

  
She pulled her lips apart with two fingers, cool air against skin that had never felt it before. Her middle finger pressed gently at her opening, and the skin was so tender that even her tiny fingertip made her gasp. It slid in almost easily, sinking into her aching core, soft little wet noises ringing in her ears. She could feel her walls pulsing around her finger, and as she crooked it up they fluttered and gave. 

  
That one slender finger was so much she needed to distract herself to keep from bursting, from dissipating her form by the pure rush of it; she was so thrilled she felt like she could finish out now, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to make it last, if she could; who knew how long it would be before she had an excuse to be alone again? She bit her lip, kneading at her breasts, stretching one leg out long while the other one braced against the floor of the hole. Her teeth were grinding together, she realized, which was probably bad for her but she’d just have to keep from making a habit of it. She shifted, pointing her toes, digging her knuckle into the skin right at her opening.

  
Every little fluttering pulse made her want to stretch, want to somehow grow larger; there was too much of it for even this fused body. As she pinched and tweaked at her nipples she felt it all the way down in her Ruby; finally ready for it, her slow rolling of her node shot up to her Pearl. As she pressed another narrow finger inside, she felt it everywhere; hot and longing and loving, addicted to the little wet sounds as she drove her fingers in deeper. She didn’t want it to be over, but knew it would be; every little twitch sent sparks up behind her eyes. Her thighs twitched, she drew up her knees, curling almost into a ball as she drove her two fingers in hard, clutched at her breasts, bit her bottom lip and seized up. 

  
It wasn’t like what Ruby had felt before, not exactly, though it lasted about as long and cleared out her mind in the same way. Inside her, Ruby and Pearl seemed to embrace, the perfect joining of their selves shining out through her pleasure, her thrill. There was an intense relief to it, a joy that left her shaking and exhausted, body loose and sprawled on the floor of the hole. As she came back to herself, she felt a calm she hadn’t had in an age. 

  
Slowly rolling over onto her side, pressing her sweaty cheek to the cool stone, Rhodonite was uncommonly aware of the rise and fall of her breast as she drew breath. Silly, maybe, when she had no particular need to push air through her throat and speak at the moment, but it was a soothing feeling. One heavy breast lay on top of the other, the other on the floor, and the way they rested was so completely captivating to her. Suddenly, she started to giggle, feeling light-headed and strange. She could have this, now. Here, in the depths of Homeworld, alone in someone else’s long-abandoned hole, she could be together. 

  
She thought of Fluorite, happily lost in thought in the main cavern. She thought of Padparadscha, her contentment and delight in all things, and of the Rutiles, who tried so hard to understand her but didn’t lie about it when they were annoyed. All of them had each other. In a minute, when she’d gotten herself a bit back together, she’d dress and head back out to the cavern; she’d sit down with the Twins and ask them how to play their card game. She’d be with them, as eternity swept on, and she’d be with herself too. And it would be okay. She could have this, she could have some joy in and amongst the fear. 

  
She breathed slowly, and she was all right. 


End file.
